Changing of the guard in front of the net
Jacob Steinman, Riley Mercer, Mathis Rousseau and Joshua Fleming were all among the best goaltenders in the QMJHL last season and will not be back in 2025-2026, after completing their junior career.
Steinman, who was named Best Goaltender (Patrick-Roy Trophy) after a 29-win season with 3 shutouts, a 2.41 GAA and a .923 save percentage with the Wildcats and Mooseheads, will continue his career in the NCAA with Bowling Green State University.
The same goes for Fleming who, after three seasons in Acadie-Bathurst, will play for Penn State University. Rousseau will join the University of Maine after winning the Gilles-Courteau Trophy with the Moncton Wildcats.
Mercer, a former member of the Voltigeurs, will begin his professional career in the Minnesota Wild organization, in the American Hockey League or ECHL.
The departure of these four masked men opens the door wide for Lucas Beckman, from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, Samuel Meloche, from the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, and William Lacelle, from the Rimouski Océanic, to be among the best goaltenders in the Q.
All three had great seasons in 2024-25: Beckman with 31 wins, a 2.65 GAA and .914 save percentage; Meloche with 30 wins, a 2.90 GAA and a .900 save percentage; and Lacelle with 27 wins (in 36 games!), a 2.38 GAA and a .909 save percentage.
Lacelle won the Jacques-Plante Trophy as the goaltender with the best goals-against average in the QMJHL.
According to experts, the Drakkar, Huskies and Océanic should not be among the powerhouses of the league this season, so it remains to be seen what kind of performances Beckman, Meloche and Lacelle will be able to offer.
The same could be said for Gabriel D’Aigle of the Victoriaville Tigres, who led the league last year with a total of 55 games played.
Three powerhouses, three goalies
Speaking of powerhouses, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and the Shawinigan Cataractes are aiming high this season.
Newly acquired from the Cape Breton Eagles, Jakub Milota should be the Armada’s go-to man. In his third season in the QMJHL, the Nashville Predators prospect has everything it takes to aim for the Patrick-Roy Trophy. It will all depend on how many games he plays compared to teammate Arseni Radkov, a rookie and prospect of the Montreal Canadiens.
In Chicoutimi, Raphaël Précourt, who played 50 games last season (2.73 and .909), should still have the pole. The same goes for Mathys Fernandez with the Cataractes, who did very well in the most recent playoffs (2.39 and .915), where Shawinigan lost in the semifinals.
Another name to remember in net is Rudy Guimond, who will be the new number one in Moncton. Despite the departure of Markus Vidicek, Dyllan Gill, Mathis Rousseau and Vincent Collard, among others, the defending champions should still have a good lineup. And this, despite the absence until mid-November of their pillar, Caleb Desnoyers.
Guimond, 20, wowed the crowd last year by losing only one game out of 25, season and playoffs combined! With Rousseau gone, he could very well play around 50 games and be one of the finalists for the Patrick-Roy Trophy.
Félix Hamel, who recently moved from the Armada to the Eagles, Louis-Antoine Denault, from the Remparts, Mikus Vecvanags, from the Regiment, Mathis Langevin of the Océanic (who will be the starter in Rimouski?), and Kyan Labbé from the Phoenix, will also be fun to watch.
